1. Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Civil Engineering, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4L7.
2. Assistant Professor, Structural Engineering Dept., Ain Shams Univ., Cairo, Egypt (corresponding author).
3. Martini Mascarin and George Chair in Masonry Design, Dept. of Civil Engineering, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4L7.